Tuning apparatus



Jan. 5, 1932. A. NOVARD 1,840,207

TUN I NG APPARATUS Filed Oct. 5, 19:50 2 Sheets-Sheei 1 4c Q v R ,4 a

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f v A ATTOR NEY WITNESS:

Patented Jan. 5, 1932 auausrouovA-np,

or TAGUiBAYA, MEXICO runme 'arrm'rusi Applibatidm flied October a, 1930. Serial no. 486,264.

This invention relates to improvements in tuning devices for musical instruments and more" particularly to 'adevicefor tuning an instrument having the notes alreadymade 5] for, the player, such as the piano, as .d'istin guishedfrom an instrument in which the plat cr must make his own'notes as onthe V e In thetuningiof aniinstrument-such as the I0 violinno'partiou-lar di-fiicu-lty lsexperienced,

since each string is tuned to a perfect fifth fronrthe next one and after the A' or third string istuhedto "a piano or a tuning fork, the other'threecan be readily tuned 1n perl fect fifths inasmuch as a violin-player of any quality has aperfect ear for su'cli intervals.

The tuning of a piano presents many di'fliculties, however. Oh a'piano which has been newlytuned by an expert wefind similar w notes at opposite ends of the keyboard to be approximately one quarterl of atone of tune. Thepiano; tuner usuallyjstarts in his. tuningwithmiddle C or A andtunes hisoctaves fromthere.v He ,will probably experience'no" diflicultyin tuning. the first one.

or'two octaves, nor in tuningother of the perfect intervalstherebetween, viz the fourths and the fifths, The difiiculty comes, how'- ever,.intu'ning the higher and lower octaves L as well asthemajor intervals, viZ., the seco'nds, thirds, siXths and sevenths, as well as t-he'minorinterva'ls. It would seem that the human ear has not evolved sufficiently thus far'to detect the imperfections in tones which.

thatas thesucceeding higher and lower 00-. taves are'tuned by the human earthey be p come increasingly out of tune. In any event, the result" is almost invariably animperfect 1y tuned'piano.

, One of the objects ofthe presentinvention is the provision of simplified tuningmeans which will produce absolutely accurate notes, are gradiiatiens Being made ty-meane f geometrical progressions; and nothing is left to the imperfect human ear except wmatch tones having a precisely equal number 0& vibrations. I

Another object of the invention is to pro 68 vide a tuning means which will producefa more accurate scale than has ever thus far beenp'roduced on the piano, even though the piano weretuned in a manner generally be i lieved to be perfect, viz., having perfect W octaves and twelve perfect half-tone intervals between each octave.

The aforesaid twelve consecutive half tones provide what is called a chromatic 7 scale. A major scale, which has the same terminals as the chromatic scale,is composed of five whole'tones and two half-tones; there being a half-tone between the thirdand" fourth, and seventh and eighth intervals, v, the other intervals being whole tones. Theoretically,however, the half-tone interval between the seventh and eighth notes should be much smaller than the half-tone interval be tween the third. and fourth notes. Likewise the interval between the third and fourth notes'in the 'major scale shouldbe somewhat less than a full half-tone. A competentvio linist will play his scales in this fashion and produce tones more desirable to the discriminating musical ear. The singer will do like- 30 wise,.and in the event that the piano accom panying him strikes the, same note atthe same instant the resulting sound is imperfect. Of' what use, then,is the half-tone if it is always imperfect in the major scale and like wise in a minor scale? The answer is that it is' perfect only when one is playing in the key which begins with the upper note in this half interval. For example, in the key of C the short half-tone interval between the seventh. and eighth notes is the interval bej-j tween. B and C. To produce a .theoret ically perfect scale the B should be almost upto' the C. However when one playsin the key of B, which has five sharps, one should theoretically start on the otherwise imperfect B whichthe piano produces. In this case, also, the pianos E natural is too high and the Asharp too low. e e j It will now be asked whether or not we ex pect to have one separate piano for each of the thirteen keys. The answer is that a piano could be constructed to have a large number of pedals in order to give each half-note in the scale its proper tone regardless of the key in which one were playing. I have found that to produce this highly desirable condition each octave mustinclude seventy-two notes instead of the customary twelve.

In my tuning device I have provided a scale having seventy-two perfect intervals in one, giving six fractional intervals to each halftone, and fifty-three in another. The former scale, however, is far more perfect than the latter.

Thus, it will be seen that the principal object of my invention is the provision of a tuning device whereby an instrument, wherein the notes are already made for the player, such as the piano, may be tuned correctly in the history of music.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter specifically pointed out, or will become apparent, as the specification proceeds.

lVith the above indicated objects in view, the invention resides in certain novel constructions and combinations and arrangement of parts, clearly described in the following specification and fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which latter show embodiments of the invention as at present preferred.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of same.

Fig. 1 is a section on line l-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed view of a portion of the top of the device.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a part of the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a section on line 77 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to said drawings, the embodiment, as at present preferred includes a hollow rectangular box 10 constructed of any suitable wood such as birch or fir, the top 11 of said box being provided with openings 12. A triangular shaped box 13 is mounted on the underside of the top portion 11 as shown in Fig. 7, this inner box being adapted to give the instrument more resonance. This inner box 13 is also provided with a longitudinal slot 14 on the un derside thereof. A metal plate 15 also extends longitudinally of the box on the upper side of the top portion thereof, this plate being provided with graduations or notches 16 and 16 thereon. At each end of this metal plate is mounted a bridge piece 17 which supports each end of a pair of strings 18 and 18. These strings are preferably of the steel type and are of such a gauge as to be reasonably taut when they are tuned to standard middle C. One end of the strings are secured to metal pins 19 and 19' mounted in a suitable opening in the end portion 20 of the hollow box. The opposite ends of the strings are secured on a bell crank lever means 21 and 21 pivotally mounted at 22. Fine tuning of the strings may be obtained by turning thumb screws 23 and 23 which are mounted in a metal plate 24 secured to the opposite end portion 25 of the hollow box. Each bridge piece 17 includes a tapered bridge member 26 upon which the strings rest. In order to make the whole device more resonant and allow for freer vibrations, pins 27 are secured in each corner on the underside of the box upon which the weight thereof may rest.

In order to vary the tones produced by the strings a movable bridge member 28 is provided, said movable bridge member being constructed from solid metal such as brass and is provided with an end plate 29 which holds a tapered bridge member 30 upon which the strings rest, said end plate 29 being secured to the bridge piece 28 by means of a screw 29. This bridge section 30 is also pro vided with an extension portion 30 on the underside thereof which extends beneath the underside of the movable bridge. This extension portion may engage any one of the graduations or notches 16 in order to indicate any given position on the plate 15.

As was stated heretofore, the plate 15 is provided with a series of graduations or notches 16 and 16' on each side of said plate. There are provided seventy-two graduations to the octave on the side 16 and fifty-three to the octave on the side 16. The method employed in obtaining these graduations was by the use of geometrical progressions, all as well known in the laws of physics. There is also provided further graduations 16 having the standard twelve half-tones to the oc tave to aid in the standard tuning of the piano.

The hereinbefore described construction admits of considerable modification without departing from the invention; therefore, it is the wish not to be limited to the precise arrangements shown and described, which are as aforesaid, by way of illustration merely. In other words the scope of protection con-- templated is to be taken solely from the appended claims, interpreted as broadly as is consistent with the prior art.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a tuning device, the combination of an elongated sounding box having a plurality of strings mounted thereon, means for tuning said strings to any given tone, resonance means within said sounding box, a plate mounted on said box lengthwise of same and having graduations marked thereon, and a slidable bridge structure adapted to move along said plate, changing the tones produced by said strings.

2. In a tuning device, the combination of an elongated sounding'box, a string mounted on said box and spaced therefrom, means for tuning said string to any given pitch, a plate secured to said box adjacent said strings, a plurality of notches on said plate adapted to indicate seventy-two equal divisions of an octave and a slidable bridge structure adapted to move along said plate, and being adapted to stop said string at various points, thereby changing the tones produced by said string.

3. In a tuning device, the combination of an elongated sounding box, a string mounted on said box and spaced therefrom, means for tuning said string to any given pitch, a plate secured to said box adjacent said string, a plurality of notches on said plate adapted to indicate fifty-three equal divisions of an octave, and a slidable bridge structure c adapted to move along said plate and being adapted to stop said string at each of said fifty-three equal divisions of an octave.

4. A tuning device including an elongated box structure having sound holes in the top portion thereof, resonance means within said box, a bridge structure mounted at each end of said box structure, a plurality of strings mounted on said bridges, tuning means secured to one end of said box structure and bein adapted to tune said strings to any dosirecf pitch, a plate mounted on the top of said box structure and having a plurality of graduations marked thereon and a movable bridge member mounted on said plate and being adapted to engage the strings at various points thereof, changing the pitch of same.

5. A tuning device including an elongated box structure having sound holes in the top portion thereof, resonance means within said box, a bridge structure mounted at each end of said box structure, a plurality of strings mounted on said bridges, tuning means secured to one end of said box structure and being adapted to'tune said strings to any desired pitch, a plate mounted lengthwise on the top of said box structure and having a plurality of graduations on each side of same, the graduation on one side providing fiftythree equal divisions to an octave and the graduations on the other side providing seventy-two equal divisions to the octave, and a movable bridge member mounted on said plate and being adapted to stop the strings at various of same.

In testimony whereof I hereby aflix my signature. v

AUGUSTO NOVARO.

points thereof, changing the pitch 

